Fastening device



H.'A. STEARNS, In.

FASTENING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FIILED OCT. 1, 1919.

1 ,333 ,348. I Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

Inventor UNITED STATFE PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY A. STEARNS, JR., OF WOONSOCKET, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-TALETO JAMES COCJI-IRANE, 0F FRANKLIN, MASSACHUSETTS.

FASTENING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY A. STEARN s, Jr., a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at l/Voonsocket, in the county of Providence and Stateof Rhode Island, have invented.

new and useful Improvements in Fastening Devices, of which the followingis a specification.

This invention relates to a fastening device for doors, covers and thelike and has for its object to provide a device of simple constructionwhich ordinarily serves the purpose of a latch for use upon doors oflight construction such as for example screen doors, but which may alsoserve as a means of locking said door to prevent the opening of the samefrom one side thereof.

The invention contemplates a novel means of operating the latch from theoutside of the door, said means constituting in efiect a key, theremoval of which renders it impossible to open said door without forcingthe same.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts setforth in the following specification and particularly pointed out in theclaims thereof.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure l is a side elevation of my i1nproved fastening device, the samebeing illustrated in connection with a door which is shown in section.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the fastening device, the door and. door casingbeing illustrated in horizontal section as taken on the line 22 of Fig.1.

Figs. 8 and 4 are side elevations similar to Fig. 1, illustrating twoother embodiments of my invention.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of thedrawings.

In the drawings, Figs. 1 and 2, 5 represents a door and 6 a door casing.To the inner side of the door 5 are fastened two similar brackets 7 and8 having sides 9 and 10 respectively arranged in parallel relation toeach other. A latch 11 is pivotally mounted at 12 upon the brackets 7and 8 between the parallel sides 9 and 10 of said brackets. This methodof mounting the latch 11 gives added stability to said latch.

The latch 11 has formed upon the inner end thereof a stop 13 which isadapted to engage the door 5 and thereby limit the upward movement ofthe outer end of said latch. A spring 1 1 is fastened at one end to thelatch 11, its other end being fastened to the door 5. A staple 15 orother suitable catch is fastened to the door casing 6 and .when the dooris in its closed position the spring 1 1 will cause the latch to engagesaid catch at which time a projection 16 suitably formed upon the outerend of said latch will prevent the opening of said door.

As a means of disengaging the projection 16 of the latch 11 from thestaple 15, a thumb piece 17 is formed integral with the outer end of thelatch 11. By pressin downwardly upon the thumb piece 1* against thetension of the spring 14, the

projection 16 may be disengaged from the staple 15 whereupon the door 5may be opened.

The latch 11 is operated from the outside of the door by a rod 18, oneend of which has screw-threaded engagement at 28 with a lug 19 fast tothe latch 11. The rod 18 extends downwardly from the lug 19 and projectsthrough a slot 20 provided in the door 5 terminating with a handle 21fast thereto upon the outside of the door. The rod 18 passes through thedoor 5 at an angle to said door, the slot 20 in said door being ofsufficient size to allow for the movement of the latch 11 together withthe rod, as illustrated by the dotted line position i in Fig. 1.

The lug 19 is provided with a countersunk recess 22 which acts as aguide for the end of the rod 18 when said rod is bein inserted in thescrew-threaded hole 23 of the lug 19 from the outside of the door 5.

The operation of my improved fastening device is as follows: If it isdesired, by a person who is upon the same side of the door as the latch,to open the door, the same may be accomplished by pressing downwardlyupon the thumb piece 17 thereby disengaging the projection 16 from thestaple 15 whereupon the door 5 may be pushed open in the usual manner.If, however, upon the other hand the person is upon the opposite side ofthe door from the latch, the handle 21 upon the outer end of the rod 18may be pulled thereby also disengaging the proj ection 16 from thestaple 15 against the tension of the spring 14-, whereupon said door maybe pulled open from the outside. If it is desired to make it impossibleto open the door from the outside thereof, the rod 18 may be disengagedfrom the lug 19 by unscrewing said rod 18 from said lug and removing therod 18 from the door and placing the same in the pocket. When it isagain desired to open the door from the outside thereof, the rod 18 isinserted through the opening 20 in the door and shoved upwardly. As theend of the rod approaches the lug 19 it will engage the inclined sidesof the countersunk recess 22 and will be guided by the same intoengagement with the screw-threaded hole 23, whereupon the door may beagain opened from the outside thereof.

In Fig. 3 I have illustrated a modified embodiment of my invention. Inthis form the only difference is the elimination of the spiral spring14: and the substitution of another type of wire spring, as illustratedat 24:, which is mounted upon a stud 25, which acts as the pivot for thelatch 11. One end of the spring 24k engages the underside of the bracketTat a, the spring is then coiled around the stud 25 and its'other endengages the underside of the latch 11 at Z), thereby always tending toforce the outer end of the latch 11 upwardly and into engagement withthe staple 15.

In Fig. 1 another embodiment of my in vention is illustrated in which aflat spring 26 is mounted upon a stud 27 which forms the pivot for thelatch 11, said flat spring 26 engaging the underside of-a pin 28 orother suitable projection fast to the latch 11, thereby tending to forcesaid latch upwardly into engagement with the staple 15.

The operation of each of theseembodiments of my inventionis exactly thesame as that previously described in connection with Figs. 1 and 2;

Having thus specifically described my invention what I claim and desireby Letters Patent to secure is: c

1. A fastening device for doors and the like having, in combinatiomapair ofbrackets adapted to be fastened to a door, said brackets beingprovided with parallel ad jacent sides, a latch pivoted to said bracketsbetween said parallel sides, a catch adapted tobe fastened to a doorcasing, means to cause said latch to engage said catch when said door isclosed, means integral with said latch adapted to limit the upwardmovement of the outer end of said latch when said latch is not inengagement with said catch, a lug fast to the outer end of said latch,and a rod detachably fastened to said lug and constituting'a key andadapted to project downwardly therefrom and through said door at anangle thereto, whereby said latch may be operated or said rod may bedetached from or connected to said lug from the other side of said doorfrom that to which said latch is fastened.

2. A fastening device for doors and the like having, in combination, alatch adapted to be pivotally fastened to the inside of a door, a thumbpiece integral with said latch, a catchadapted to be fastened to a doorcas ing, means to cause said latch to engage said catch when said dooris closed, means to limit the upward movement of said latch when saiddoor is open, a lug fast to the outer end of said latch, -a roddetachably fastened to said lug and constituting a key and adapted toproject downwardly there from and through said door at an angle thereto,whereby said latch may be operated or said'rod may be rotated to bedetached from or connected to said lug from the outside of said door,and means to guide the end of said rod into said lug when said rod hasbeen disengaged from said lug.

v Inltestim'onyv whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

HENRY A. STEARNS, JR.

Witnesses:

HnRBnRT P. SUTTON, Mrs. ARTHEMISE SUTTON.

